Akihiro Kubota - Coding based on theories of both Iannis Xenakis & Ligeti György
Yu Miyashita - Improvisation based on sound(s) generated by the code

Photo by Hirofumi Kawakita

- REVIEW

Stray Landings - "The final performance consisted of a live coding performance by Akihiro Kubota, based on coding theories of both Iannis Xenakis & György Ligeti. This in turn was EQ’d and musically manipulated by Yu Miyashita. The sounds themselves were super-dry, like the sound of a spectrogram output, with every note on a keyboard held down at once. There were also what sounded like sirens and a never ending Shepard Tone, adding yet more layers to the confusing but joyous cacophony. Watching code being spelt out in front of your very eyes brought to mind the DIY ethos of early punk rock. Even if you hadn’t a clue how exactly the coding worked, there was nonetheless a full disclosure about how it could be done, and with enough examination, anyone could do the same. In David Novak’s book, Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation, he discusses the nature of feedback. Inputs are plugged and replugged into other inputs and outputs, creating a whirling orbit of chaotic sound and information. In Japanoise, this feedback was created using enormous tables of fuzzboxes, and placing microphones next to speakers to create apocalyptic screeches that sound like a mechanical hell. Novak argues that this became representative of “how a mechanical society feeds human energy back into the machine and measure[s] just how deeply creative subjectivity has become embedded in this cycle.” Now then, it appears as if the madness of the cycle is manifest through computerised feedback loops of data; constantly regurgitated through different methods of digitisation. With so many artists exploring the sonic and aesthetic possibilities of code, it feels as though we are watching the baby-steps for a much larger leap forward in the way we think about electronic music production. However, if we want to know how and where the truly groundbreaking work will occur, we ought to keep our eyes dead set on Tokyo and Beyond Code."